Thursday, January 31, 2013

Standing Apart

Today's NYTimes' editorial, Israel Ducks on Human Rights, a day after providing a platform for an anti-Israel, factually wrong op-ed about taking Israel/is to the ICC (and which Julian Ku wrote: "If this is the Palestinian strategy to resolve their dispute with Israel, than the prospects for the settlement of this dispute are even more remote than I had previously believed."), asserts that

Israel has increasingly isolated itself from the world with its hard-line policies on West Bank settlements, the Gaza embargo and other issues. This week, it unwisely set itself further apart with a decision to withhold cooperation from a United Nations Human Rights Council review of its human rights practices.

If this paper, or any rational person, still considers the UNHRC objective, untained, impartial, considerate, reasonable, unbiased or somehow otherwise actually concerned with human rights and not an Israel-bashing forum whose members have ten times more problems with human rights than Israel while ignoring the human rights fiascos in other places much worse, not to admit all the complaints against Israel are true, I stress, then the readership of the NYT as well as its editors is to be pitied. By the way, the UN Humand Rights Coordinator rep in Jerusalem has not yet replied or acknowledged my appeal.The editorial even notes:

...The council...is clearly not without faults. More than half of the resolutions passed by the council since it started work in 2006 have focused on Israel and its treatment of Palestinians, and Israel is the only country that is a standing item on the agenda for the council’s biannual meetings. The council hasn’t always been an effective human rights champion. But...

Well, we don't accept "buts" anymore.The paper contradicts itself,

...Israel shows not only an unwillingness to undergo the same scrutiny as all other countries,

but there is no "same scrutiny"!That's the point.The paper issue a threat or two and then addsAny new governing coalition that emerges from Israel’s recent elections should realize that there’s a cost to standing apart. "Standing apart" is normative Jewishness.The anti-Semites stand us apart.Media bias stands us apart.Our uniqueness stands us apart.Our history and our achievements stand us apart.The Bible stands us apart, Numbers 23:9:

lo, it is a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not take the
nations into consideration (my translation).

It would be better if the nations treated us better, understood us better, aided us more.But at the fundamental level, we have to take that into consideration._____________UPDATEThe report on "settlements" is out.And read this.

As noted to me:

Sudan was elected as VP of a UN human rights body (ECOSOC) a couple days ago. It is simply absurd the NYT would publish that editorial.

In
May, Israel said it planned to stop participating because the council
was a “political tool” for those who wanted to “bash and demonize”
Israel. The council, whose 47 members are elected by the United Nations
General Assembly, is clearly not without faults. More than half of the
resolutions passed by the council since it started work in 2006 have
focused on Israel and its treatment of Palestinians, and Israel is the
only country that is a standing item on the agenda for the council’s
biannual meetings.

But two paragraphs later, the editors tells that "universal standards" in human rights are important!

Human rights reviews are an important tool for
judging all countries by universal standards and nudging them to make
positive changes. By opting out, Israel shows not only an unwillingness
to undergo the same scrutiny as all other countries, but it deprives
itself of an opportunity to defend against abuse charges. The decision
could also undermine the entire review process by providing an excuse
for states with terrible human rights records — like North Korea, Iran
and Zimbabwe — to withdraw as well. It certainly will make it harder for
Washington to argue for reviews when an ally rejects the process.

It
would be one thing for the New York Times to acknowledge that the Human
Rights Council is flawed and that Israel should submit to its
authority, if the flaws were not relevant to Israel's standing. But one
of the flaws that the Times itself acknowledged is the council's
obsession with Israel, meaning that Israel will not be judged by the
"universal standards" it claims to champion.

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Note this in that Settlement Report:

4. For the purpose of its work, the Mission understands “Israeli settlements”, hereinafter “settlements”, to encompass all physical and non-physical structures and processes that constitute, enable and support the establishment, expansion and maintenance of Israeli residential communities beyond the 1949 Green Line in the OPT.(1) The Mission does not differentiate between “settlements”, “settlement blocks”, “outposts”, or any other structures that have been erected, established, expanded and/or appropriated or any land or natural resources appropriated

I also particularly liked how in the Annexes (page 23) they start the "Timeline – Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory" ... beginning in 1948.

And, that's because they point out Israel's then territorial expansion into areas outside the 1947 Partition - which, of course not only was a rcommendation, not only accepted by Israel but as it was rejected by the Arabs who used violence to thwart its implementation, became a dead letter.

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About Me

American born, my wife and I moved to Israel in 1970. We have lived at Shiloh together with our family since 1981. I was in the Betar youth movement in the US and UK. I have worked as a political aide to Members of Knesset and a Minister during 1981-1994, lectured at the Academy for National Studies 1977-1994, was director of Israel's Media Watch 1995-2000 and currently, I work at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem. I was a guest media columnist on media affairs for The Jerusalem Post, op-ed contributor to various journals and for six years had a weekly media show on Arutz 7 radio. I serve as an unofficial spokesperson for the Jewish Communities in Judea & Samaria.